


Assistance

by priama



Category: Batman (Movies - Nolan)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Rachel Dawes Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:01:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22981405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/priama/pseuds/priama
Summary: Harvey screams his lungs out through the speaker but when Rachel tries to talk to him, she’s shoved towards the back door of the warehouse.
Kudos: 15





	Assistance

_“No! No! Not me! Why are you coming for me?”_

Harvey screams his lungs out through the speaker but when Rachel tries to talk to him, she’s shoved towards the back door of the warehouse.

Yes… She has to move. Despite her legs threatening to give, she musters all her will and keeps going.

_“Rachel! Rachel! No!”_

She falters for a second. “Harvey-”

“Move.”

She swallows but keeps going. There is no time for sentimentality; there is no time to argue. Harvey’s been found and he’s being saved. _Thank God for you, Bruce. Thank you._

Six seconds.

She’s out. She can breathe. The night’s chilly air feels like a balm against her sweat drenched face. Harvey’s voice sounds distant and distraught but he is safe. Bruce has him. He is safe and so is she.

Four seconds.

She’s dragged by the arm and tomorrow it will be bruised but it’s preferable. Bruises heal and once they do, she will see Harvey and Bruce and Gordon and the four of them will find that horrible clown and they will make him pay for all the horror he put them and the rest of Gotham through.

She hears police sirens approach and-

Rachel doesn’t know what hits her first: the deafening explosion at her back, the conflagration shattering the warehouse’s windows or the tear jerking impact that runs throughout her body as she and Jonathan Crane fall onto the ground.

She gasps for air even though the smoke makes her cough and her ribs hurt her. But she’s had worse. This is manageable.

Crane coughs just as violently next to her and he rips off the burlap mask. His hair is in disarray and his eyes are wild and blue. She curls onto herself, too beaten up to sit up, but never once removes her sight from the man collapsed next to her. He makes no effort to move either.

Minutes pass, though she feels like its hours, and in the distance she hears more sirens which she guesses are firefighters. It is then when her battered body regains some energy and she shakily gets back up on her feet. She’s safe. She’s _safe_.

Crane merely turns his eyes to her but decides to stay on the ground. His face is impassive but she does not miss the way his jaw clenches. She’s seen this before. The good doctor is irritated, to say the least.

“Thank you.” She rasps. She does not know what else to say. All the events are a blur; the most confusing thing being Doctor Jonathan Crane somehow finding her and getting her out of the time bomb ridden building the Joker put her in.

Crane seems to know exactly how to reply, however. “How expectedly unexpected, Miss Dawes. I thought you’d berate me for being out of prison or inquire as to why I decided to get you out of that situation.”

Rachel frowns. For someone wanting to get to the point of things, he always gets there the roundabout way. “If you wanted to tell me you would have done so already.”

Crane stares at her unblinking that he looks almost statuesque. She cannot read his expression but she stares him down anyway. The only time she’s been afraid of the doctor was under the influence of his fear toxin. Even when she’s found him somewhat unsettling in the past, the unease always gave away to annoyance and defiance.

He scoffs and offers her half a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. He sits up, brushing a hand through his matted hair. He winces and she knows he must be hurt somewhere but doesn’t comment on it.

“I’ve been wandering the streets, trying to analyze clown who’s been terrorizing this city. Quite the character, I might add.”

Despite herself, she retorts. “So you found me by accident, is that it?”

Crane shrugs. “Partly, yes. I saw people bringing an unconscious person here.”

He pushes himself up, one hand on his knee, the other grabbing at the burlap mask on his side. He must be much more bruised than her, for he grunts once he tries to straighten up. He breathes in through flared nostrils, trying to gather his bearings and Rachel can see the sheen of sweat on his forehead. He meets her unfaltering gaze.

“Never would have imagined that person to be _you_.”

She knows he has no love for her so it comes to no surprise when he almost hisses the last word. But that is what’s so odd. Crane never tolerated her, yet he undid her bindings and dragged her out of the building. Yes, with less than ten seconds to spare, but he saved her nonetheless.

“Why?”

“I thought you’d be in your office or perhaps investigating this-”

“No.” she shakes her head “I mean, why even bother getting me out of there? We both know you can’t stand me.”

Crane offers her a halfhearted chuckle and an unblinking stare which irks her more than she cares to admit. A shadow of… something crosses his eyes and he swallows hard. He’s mocking her somehow, she can tell. He always is.

“I haven’t forgotten the high voltage blow to the face you inflicted upon me, Miss Dawes.”

 _Of course._ How typical of Crane, wanting to get the last laugh at everything. Of course he’d risk his skin in order to get his. No Joker, no Batman daunted him enough to keep him away from nursing a grudge. _You gassed me first!_

“Somehow, the shock reset my cognitive abilities and released me of my own toxin’s effects. So consider what I did as payment for your assistance.”

She stares at him for a long time, too weary and too bruised and too dumbfounded to talk back. Never in her life would she have imagined Jonathan Crane thanking, or rather, _paying back_ a kindness done to him, no matter how unintentional. Was this another trick? It had to be. That’s how he operated.

Crane slips the burlap over his head once more. “Best get out of here Miss Dawes, before Gotham’s finest think you’re dead.”

She blinks “What about you?”

Crane scoffs. “Oh, I’m leaving as well, just not where you go. Wouldn’t want to bother the police and the Bat-man with my presence while they have their hands full with this renegade clown, now would I?”

“He calls himself the Joker.”

He scoffs again “Of course he does. Such is the bloated ego of masked maniacs in this city.”

As he limps away and disappears into the shadows, Rachel turns around and staggers around the scorched building. There is no point in chasing him now. He’ll have to be dealt with later.

-

The flames have been fully put down by the time she reaches the police cars surrounding the warehouse. When Gordon sees her, he runs to her eyes wide behind his glasses and his hands on her shoulders. She sighs in relief at the welcoming sight of his familiar face.

“I thought- How did you get out?”

She shakes her head. “Apparently someone owed me a favor.”

**Author's Note:**

> My favorite movie from the Nolan trilogy is Batman Begins because of Rachel and Crane's dynamics. I was angry when she was killed off in the second movie so I thought to rectify that here. Katie Holmes is Rachel's face always.


End file.
